Fiber history

In this past week, I have been sewing but none of it is really blog-worthy (yet). I've made a rough sample of a new-to-me corset pattern, which is very likely much too extreme in shape for me (even the hip spring, that a first!). And I have re-sized some t-shirts for myself and my boyfriend. Useful work, and it is appreciated but not very interesting to share here.

So, instead, I thought I would share another old object. I came across this one at work. I have started teach a subject I can only translate as "knowledge of textiles" at a local fashion school. This subject is about understanding fabric, from the raw fiber to its place in the world of fashion and it is aimed at future buyers for stores, stylist/designers as well as made-to-measure tailors. 

Last week, I was looking through one of the cupboards which contains samples when I found this:

It is fun to find samples of fibers which are not often used for clothing. Most of the contents of this box seem to be made from coconut fiber. But look at that label! It looks old doesn't it?

For those of you who don't read Dutch I'll translate:

Royal United Carpet Factories

Rotterdam

Superior weaving.

Softly spun coconut yarn for weft purposes.

Spun by hand in British India

British India! So that means that this sample pre-dates 1947 (or 1950 if we presume extreme conservatism and mistrust of the ability of former colonial nations to organize their own governments on the part of the label makers at the Rotterdam factory).

I wonder how it ended up here. It certainly pre-dates this institute in its current form. I didn't have time to search the other boxes in this cupboard but I'm really curious about what I am going to find there! 

 

The last leg

OK, I'm going to level with you. Normally I try to keep my everyday troubles off the blog but this one has been affecting me for quite a while and it's kind of troubling my sewing as well.

The work situation. As I've mentioned here once before, I've worked as an alteration seamstress for a bridal store for about three years now. In that time, I've worked for two different stores. Or, as I should say, via two stores because technically, I'm self-employed.
I didn't get into this because I felt drawn to it. I took the first and the second position because I didn't manage to find any other work. 
Now, I know sewing for a living may sound good, and a lot of people seem to think it has to be nice to work in bridal fashion. However, it isn't. Not to me. 

Picture this: You're basically doing alterations all the time. For demanding people who want to pay as little as possible and who will nit-pick about the smallest things (and never the ones you're expecting). And even the nicest women get nervous about their wedding dresses which makes them difficult to deal with. And I'm not really a people person.
And it's always crazily busy in spring and early summer and there's no work in November and January. And it's always the same, there's no way to develop what you're doing.

In fact, I'm a fairly intelligent and reasonably well-educated person and I'd love an opportunity to use my brain in my work. 
For quite a while, I've been frustrated and miserable with this job. Back in March/April I decided to quit. Unfortunately, because of the way fittings are planned there is no opportunity to leave with months' notice (you just gotta love the freedom of being your own boss. NOT). I'm finally on the last leg now. Just two more weeks. Only five dresses to finish now.
I'm feeling tired and strung out and I know getting out of this is not solving all my issues with finding work. However, I'm confident I'll get out just in time to make sure I won't get annoyed with sewing itself as a result of this.

The day job

Sometimes, I mention being busy at work, but normally, I don't go into details about said work. Today is a bit different.
To make a long story short, "work", for me, has for the past two and a half years meant doing alterations for a bridal store (in fact, this is the second store I've worked for). This involves identifying and solving fitting issues but also fittin customers for corselettes and hoop skirts and discussing and creating style alterations. I should mention it does not mean making wedding dresses to order. I think I could do that but I could never sell such dresses at the price most customers want to pay.
I'm mentioning this now because I came across some pictures on my phone. Being phone pictures, taken by nasty artificial light, they are not of quality but I hope you can see what I'm trying to show you anyway.

I took these a month or so ago, after completing particularly involved project.

The customer was a very nice lady who was getting married while being six months pregnant. She chose a combination of a white skirt and a black top. I took the waistband and some of the top of the skirt off and put on a wide jersey band. Functional, but not a very impressive job.
The top was a different matter.

Her black top started out exactly the same as this white one.

It was too small, so I made a lacing panel at the back (which I do fairly often). She preferred a halter over shoulder straps so I took the straps out, turned them around and made a back closure with buttons and elastic loops. And I filled in the side next to the straps to avoid both gaping and showing the bra. To extend the top over her belly, I knew I would need to make some kind of pattern. To do this, I pinned muslin to the bottom of the top and drew on lines for the bottom and side seams. I used those as a pattern for the extension-bit. On the outside, I mimicked the pleated design of the rest of the top.

In the end, it fitted her very well. 
I thought this might be nice to share with you, or, in fact, I guess I just wanted to show off my hard work.

Another picture-less post, and my reasons for it.

I still have no new creations to show you all. Nothing new of and for myself, that is. I'll explain how that came to be.

First of all, as I told you before, I've been helping designer friend M get her collection ready for not one, but two important event. The second one of those was a big succes (for this very small eco-brand) and the fall-out of it has kept us busy ever since. Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures to add the new looks to her website. We hope to keep people interested and hopefully, this will allow us to actually make some money for all our hard work.

Secondly, I had a small asignment of my own, resizing two vintage dresses (one of them only needed a new, shorter hemline). Working on that led to the third, sad reason...

My sewing machine broke down. My beautiful, expensive, high-tech sewing machine which I've only own since the end of May suddendly had a problem. Whether turning automatically, or by hand, the needle wouldn't go down to it's lowest position. None of the usual causes were there. No bent needle, no tangled thread. I took it to the shop and the repair guy agreed with me that this was all very strange... That was last Wednesday. The machine had to stay there, so hopefully they would be able to find out what was wrong with it and repair that. If not, it will have to be sent back to the factory. In Taiwan.

(did I mention before how I really need my sewing machine? Not just for my peace of mind but also because right now, it's my only way of making any kind of income.)

Of course, M is happy to let me do my sewing at her place if necessary and my machine is still well with in its garanteed time, so everything should work out in the end.

For the time being, when I not working, I'm drafting patterns, doing a bit of knitting, tell myself I really should work on making a website, read (I found some great fashion history books at the library), watch DVD's (Tudors and DS 9, what does that make me? ;), and somehow buy a lot more at the thrift stalls than usual.

Check back later this week for pictures of my thrifting adventures and a lot more sewing, fashion and clothes related rambling.